Calamity Mandate

Chapter 19 - Snap!

Yuzu locked the door to her room and sat on her bed, holding the chest in her lap with both hands. She turned it over in her hands, feeling guilty, as if she was doing something wrong by bringing the chest up to her room.

Even though the normal procedure was to store all the collateral objects in the back room, technically there was no stipulation that they had to be there. Right? And technically the chest was still in the house, so if the traveller did come back to claim it at this moment, then he would be able to.

And also, even though she was somehow using... or being influenced... by the chest, she hadn’t broken the contract because it only stated that the chest was not to be opened or unlocked. So technically she was not doing anything wrong.

For some reason it was more comforting for Yuzu to worry about this triviality than focus on the real issue on her mind.

That is, that she probably had to return to the shrine that evening, as soon as possible. She glanced at the darkening storm clouds outside of her window. They seemed to roil with an ominous portent.

The sounds of pans clattering and oil sizzling passed through the door, and the smell of garlic and onions was wafting through the house. Zwei was preparing dinner.

“After dinner.” Yuzu mumbled to herself. That was when she would head out. She’d never snuck out of the house before, but she knew where all the creaky boards were on the stairs. Zwei would be in his room studying, most likely. Xiang was either working at the lumber yard tonight, or going to bed early.

An alternate plan bubbled up in her mind as she considered dinner. If she offered to clean up after the meal, she could leave as soon as her brothers went upstairs. They rarely checked on her in the evening and wouldn’t enter her room if the door was closed. They’d just assume she was sleeping.

With this plan in mind, Yuzu packed a small bag with her coat, boots and the chest. Even with just those three items the sling bag was already stuffed to the brim.

A sharp series of knocks startled her. Xiang’s voice rang through the door, “Dinner’s almost ready. Come and help set the table.”

“A-Alright.” Yuzu said, her voice stuttering a bit too obviously for her liking. She’d have to hide the bag from Xiang and Zwei - it was obvious that she was planning on going somewhere, which was extremely unusual for her. They’d probably dump out the bag out of curiosity.

If Xiang knew that she had taken the chest out of the room, he’d kill her!

Yuzu waited until she heard Xiang lumber back down the stairs before she opened her door. Holding the bag behind her, she crept down to the first floor and entered the open storage room directly opposite the stairs. This storage room had no door, they used it for storing cleaning supplies, tools and other random objects. Yuzu dropped the bag into the corner of the room behind a bin of umbrellas, and then walked over to the kitchen. Zwei was dressed in the same white tunic and grey slacks as the previous day. His hair was ruffled and all over the place as if he had just gotten out of bed, despite having been out all day for examinations.

“How’d your test today go?” Yuzu asked, glancing at the pots on the stove.

“Aced it.” Zwei yawned as he stirred a pork bone soup with radishes and carrots, “The last one is tomorrow. If I do well I’ll have pretty good chances to get in the academy.”

“I met Police Chief Fang last night at Uncle Zhao’s house. Maybe Uncle Zhao can ask him to give you a recommendation.” Yuzu mentioned as she opened the cupboards next to the stove and started pulling out bowls and cutlery.

Zwei shrugged, “I’ve met him before. I thought about asking but it seems like too much trouble.”

“Too much trouble indeed!” Xiang entered from the front. The darkness in the hallway indicated that he had closed the shop for the evening. “You don’t need to ask them for help.”

“I just said that.” Zwei muttered as he rolled his eyes, glancing at Yuzu. She bit her lip to stop herself from responding back to Xiang. If Zwei could get an advantage over the other applicants through their family connections, she didn’t see why he shouldn’t. But Xiang was already highly critical of Zwei’s decision to join the police, and Yuzu supposed that asking for help from Uncle Zhao was out of the question for him as well.

As Xiang walked in, Yuzu felt that something was off. It was different than a normal gut feeling. Rather than the sensation being physical, it was as if her spirit was warning her that something was going to happen. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she cast her gaze around the room. The golden strands in the periphery of her vision seemed mostly calm, but as she focused she noticed a golden strand of smoke trailing between Xiang, the storage room and herself.

Something was going to happen with the storage room?

Yuzu continued with her task without showing any irregularities. With their individual settings placed, Yuzu began helping Zwei pour the food from the pots into large serving bowls and placing them in the center of the table. He had prepared a spicy bean curd dish, a potato and pork loin soy sauce stir fry and a light pork bone vegetable soup. All of this was served with rice.

“Is that it?” Yuzu asked as she began serving out individual portions of the soup.

“Just need to fry up some smelt.” Zwei said, dipping a number of finger length fish in beaten eggs and rolling them in batter.

“Yuzu, you can watch the shop tomorrow.” Xiang said, sitting down at the table in his usual spot.

“Are you working at the lumber yard?” She asked.

“In the afternoon and evening. But I am going to go to the police station in the morning to report that chest of yours. See if there are any reports of it being stolen.”

Yuzu tensed up. Reporting suspicious items was standard procedure, but this meant that Xiang would be taking the chest with him. The warning from her spiritual intuition was becoming clear. She glanced at the string out of the corner of her eyes as she started spooning out individual portions of soup.

With her spiritual body she grabbed onto the string and tugged on it gently. She felt it resist her pull, but it remained firmly tethered in the room.

Xiang sighed suddenly and stood up, “Guess I’ll go grab it from the back.”

Yuzu’s eyes jerked up to Xiang as the metal ladle in her hand clattered against the large soup bowl noisily, spilling some soup. “Uh- Xiang. Why now? We’re just about to eat. You can take it in the morning.”

Xiang shrugged and began walking to the room, “I’ll just put it in my bag now before I forget.”

Yuzu’s mind raced. She couldn’t let Xiang discover that the chest was missing. He’d demand answers from Zwei and her, and then tear the house apart looking for it. And then he’d find the chest in the bag behind the umbrella box... with her coat and boots in it.

Yuzu clenched her fists as she looked over to Zwei, who was calmly dropping the battered smelt into sizzling hot oil, unaware of the situation. She couldn’t think of any way to convince Xiang not to retrieve the chest - if she said the wrong thing he might even get more suspicious.

Out of desperation she grabbed onto the golden string with her spirit body and yanked hard with all her strength. There was a sharp resistance for a brief second, and then the string snapped free of the room!

At the same time there was a loud clatter and a cry of pain from Zwei as the pan with the smelt was suddenly knocked off the stove, splashing his legs and arm with hot oil!

“Zwei!” Yuzu exclaimed in surprise.

“Ahh-!” Zwei was trembling as he stumbled to the wall, frantically pulling down his pants.

“What happened?” Xiang rushed over. “Are you alright Zwei?”

“Yeah- I bumped the pan off by accident- Ow.” Zwei inhaled sharply through his teeth, face contorted in pain. His right leg and a few spots on his hands and arms were already turning bright red and becoming inflamed. “I’m fine. I’m fine.”

Xiang grabbed a towel and ran it under cold water in the sink. He tossed it to Zwei as he barked an order at Yuzu, “Go get the ointment from the medicine box.”

Yuzu quickly made her way to the open storage room. She grabbed the small wicker basket that contained all their medicine supplies and carried it back to the kitchen table. Zwei was sitting against the wall, gingerly placing a wet cloth against his bare inflamed legs, Xiang was running another cloth under cold water.

“Here.” Yuzu said, pulling out a fist-sized jar of white, creamy ointment. She unscrewed the lid and handed it to Xiang.

“Clean up the mess.” Xiang said to Yuzu, kneeling down next to Zwei. “Here, cool down your hands. Let me take a look at your legs.”

He gently dried Zwei’s legs with a fresh cloth and began applying the ointment. After a moment he looked over his shoulder, finding Yuzu leaning over him, watching with concern.

“Yuzu, go clean up the mess!” He barked.

“Alright, alright.” Yuzu muttered. Xiang had used up the cloths in the kitchen, so she headed back to the open storage room and returned with a pile of fresh towels.

Yuzu picked up the pan and placed it in the sink, and began wiping up the oil and smelt. As her heart calmed down, she kept her eyes on Zwei, making sure he was alright. He looked like he was in pain, but the burns weren’t too serious. Yuzu exhaled slowly in a long sigh of relief.

Her motions froze as she realized something. Her spiritual intuition had calmed down. Her eyes glanced over to Xiang. Golden strands of smoke began appearing in response to her focus, extending out from him and drifting lazily in the air.

Her heart skipped a beat as she realized that the thread linking Xiang to the chest had disappeared.